Maldives: India refuses to meet Yameen's envoy; UN calls Prez a 'usurper'

China still opposes UN mediation in the Maldives but has toned down its opposition to foreign intervention

Maldives' beleaguered President Abdulla Yameen wanted to send his foreign minister as special envoy but the Indian side did not find the dates "suitable", the Maldivian ambassador said on Thursday, even as officials here maintained that no "real action" was taken by that country on India's concerns over democracy there.

Yameen has already dispatched special envoys to China, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to brief them about the deepening political crisis in the country.

"India was, in fact, the first stop planned and proposed for a visit of a special envoy of the president of Maldives. However, the dates proposed were not suitable